The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (HBO) is a symphony orchestra which is managed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and plays the vast majority of its performances at the Hollywood Bowl.
John Mauceri led the orchestra from its founding in 1990 until he stepped down after the 2006 Hollywood Bowl season. During this time, his titles included Conductor, Principal Conductor, and finally, Director. He now holds the title of Founding Director.
In March 2008, Thomas Wilkins was named as The Principal Guest Conductor of the orchestra for a two-year contract beginning in Summer of 2008. The contract was extended multiple times until 2014 when Wilkins was promoted to Principal Conductor.
Musicians and cross-over with other orchestras
The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra has 80-100 players drawn from the large pool of world-class freelance musicians in the Southern California area, many of whom perform regularly with movie studios, regional orchestras, and other entertainment-related organizations.
There is no cross-over between the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra musicians and the regular roster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. This is in notable contrast to the Boston Pops Orchestra which draws its players directly from the Boston Symphony (i.e. the Boston Symphony without its principal players), or the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra which is simply the Cincinnati Symphony playing under a different name.
History
Since 1922 orchestras performed regularly at the Bowl, primarily drawn from the Los Angeles area. In 1927 a "Hollywood Bowl Orchestra" was established under conductor Eugene Goossens. The orchestra made a series of recordings for Victor in 1928 issued as "Symphonies under the Stars" notable for being recorded in the open air. Guest conductors of these events included Alfred Hertz, Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Bruno Walter, Pierre Monteux, Pietro Crimini, Modest Altschuler, Adolf Tandler, and Vladimir Shavitch (in addition to Goossens).
Stokowski's orchestra
The first incarnation of a permanent orchestra was in 1945 as the "Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra" under the direction of Leopold Stokowski. They had a number of recordings under Stokowski plus others under different conductors, including: Music of George Gershwin with Felix Slatkin conducting and Leonard Pennario piano soloist Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Vladimir Horowitz as soloist and William Steinberg conducting However, after only two seasons, the orchestra was disbanded, and all the summer orchestral concerts at the Hollywood Bowl were subsequently performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. However, another incarnation of the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra continued into the 1950s and '60s, led by such conductors as Slatkin, Miklós Rózsa, Carmen Dragon, and Alfred Newman, and made numerous recordings for Capitol Records.
Re-establishment in 1990
On October 17, 1990, the management of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association (LAPA) led by Ernest Fleischmann (LAPA Executive VP and Managing Director at the time) and John Mauceri, newly appointed Principal Conductor, held a press conference announcing the formation of a second orchestra under its auspices, this time titled "Hollywood Bowl Orchestra." There were four primary reasons for its existence: Relieve the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra some of its responsibilities of playing weekend concerts at the Hollywood Bowl during the summer. Reinvent the "pops" format. During the announcement, both Fleischmann and Mauceri took great pains to avoid the term "pops" in relation to the orchestra and/or its repertoire. Mauceri said, "This is something unique in our century, that there seems to be a division between music that is 'popular' and music that is 'serious.' This ensemble will cut across these artificial barriers to become an orchestra for all tastes." The HBO would be dedicated to the preservation of American musical heritage from movies to musicals to the concert hall. Record this reinvented pops repertoire. At the press conference, the orchestra announced that it had signed a 15-CD recording contract with Philips Classics; in fact, Fleischmann noted that the impetus for forming the orchestra began when Philips lost its recording contract with the Boston Pops to Sony Classical. Tour internationally, with the first tour set for Japan in December 1991.